Fifteen years ago, Chuck Krueger taught his first executive
education seminar at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. That
day, he overheard something he's never forgotten.

Three of his students--two from blue-chip corporations and one
an entrepreneur--were shooting the breeze before the first class
meeting. The small-business owner commented that it was easy for
big businesses to send their employees to expensive executive
education classes like the one at hand. After all, the
small-business owner said, big, profitable companies can afford
such luxuries. One of the big-business attendees looked at the
entrepreneur and replied, "You think we got big and profitable
and successful and then started developing our
people?"

Investing in continuing education is how small businesses get
bigger, and attending executive education classes is no longer a
luxury reserved for the wealthiest of corporations. In fact,
today's entrepreneurs--leaders of some of the smallest yet most
lucrative businesses around--are beginning to see the advantage of
taking courses that enrich their understanding of basic busi-
ness principles and fine-tune their knowledge in specific areas,
such as marketing, sales and finance. And
although the moniker "executive education" may belie the
usefulness of
the courses to businesspeople other than the big-shot executive
variety, these misconceptions are clearing up faster than you can
say "Enroll me."

Where The Schools Are

Harvard's executive education program is generally
considered the best in the country. Even the number-two-ranked
Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia admits that. Why? Not
only does it boast the greatest number of programs, but
Boston-based Harvard also has the most intensive executive
education program designed for small-business owners.

Enrollment in Harvard's 21-year-old Owner/President
Management Program (OPM) is limited to major equity owners and
general managers or CEOs with a minimum of 10 years' business
experience. It's the only program that limits attendance by
that criteria, according to Professor Norman Berg, faculty chairman
of the OPM program. "That's an important
distinction," says Berg. "It establishes a key
commonality among the participants."

Another factor making the OPM program like no other is its
length and time span. The nine-week course is split into three
three-week segments, each separated by a full year. The reasons for
spreading the program over three years are many. "The primary
reason," says Berg, "is there's no way you could get
entrepreneurs to come to a single nine-week program. Virtually none
of these people could be gone--or would want to be gone [from their
businesses]--for nine weeks at a time."

The time between three-week sessions also gives entrepreneurs a
chance to test the techniques they learn in the course and come
back to class the following year with new perspectives on the
information they learned the last time. Last but no least,
"you don't get as tired at the end of three weeks as you
would at the end of nine weeks," says Berg. "We can
maintain a much [more intense] pace for three weeks than we could
for nine."

Each session covers five main topics--finance, general
management, marketing, human aspects of business and management
control--in increasing depth. For instance, in the first finance
session, students learn the nuts and bolts, unit two covers the
subject in greater depth, and unit three is oriented toward public
offerings or passing the business on to the next generation. In
addition, the program covers topics such as negotiation, the
Internet, and business and government in the international
economy.

Perhaps the most useful part of the program, however, is the
networking that takes place and the friendships forged between
participants. "The friendships seem to be reinforced between
sessions," says Berg. "It's almost like a homecoming
when students return for units two and three." It's a
supportive environment, and the bonds formed in the OPM program
last a lifetime, he says. Students reside on campus for the three
weeks, participating in extracurricular activities during off
hours, which helps make the program an intimate intellectual and
psychological experience.

By the time Jacqueline Leventhal attended her first OPM session
in 1993, she already had some 20 years of entrepreneurial
experience as owner of an Emeryville, California, rubber stamp
design and manufacturing company, Hero Arts Rubber Stamps Inc. But
all those years of hands-on practice hadn't made her the best
business owner she could be.

A former photographer, high school teacher and self-described
"creative type," Leventhal felt confident in her
capabilities as an inventor before attending OPM, but after the
first session, she realized there was a lot more to running a
rubber stamp business than brainstorming and drawing pictures.
Since finishing the program, Leventhal has overhauled her
accounting department, developed an inventory system and upgraded
the company's computers. The Harvard program "gave a lot
more dimension to how I see my business," she says. "Now
it's like [being] in a helicopter above the business rather
than being down inside it." Today, Leventhal's company is
among the top three rubber stamp makers in the United States.

Investigating Your Options

The $13,750-a-year OPM program is certainly not the only option
for small-business owners who want to expand their horizons.
Harvard has two other entrepreneur-oriented executive education
programs--a one-week Strategic Finance for Small Business course
and a second one-week program especially for family-business
owners. Wharton, Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and
the University of Wisconsin, Madison are just a few of the many
other well-known schools offering extensive executive education
programs to corporate employees and entrepreneurs alike.

Northwestern University, in addition to a host of more general
executive education courses, offers a three-day class designed for
entrepreneurs called "The Art of Venturing: Entrepreneurship
in Corporate and Independent Settings." Small-business owners
learn business basics, strategic market planning, how to create a
business development plan, negotiation strategies and financial
planning, among other entrepreneurial essentials. In just three
days, entrepreneurs can learn enough to make an indelible mark on
their businesses.

Nancy Drinkwater did. A small-business consultant from Boston
who's been in business for herself since 1970, Drinkwater
didn't think it was too late to learn some new tricks, so she
took the Art of Venturing course last year.

The experience enhanced her creative thinking and improved her
negotiation skills. "It taught me how to develop a concise
business plan and, more important, how to communicate that business
plan to prospective investors and people I want to do business
with," Drinkwater says. "I also got a lot of ideas about
[what kind of fees] to charge clients." In addition, the
course sharpened her ability to spot opportunities and solve
problems.

Of course, it didn't hurt that all this took place in
restful accommodations overlooking Lake Michigan. "The setting
was awesome," she recalls. "It was like going to a really
good hotel. The room was beautiful; the food was excellent. It was
a good learning experience and a great rest, too." Would she
recommend the class to other entrepreneurs?
"Absolutely."

Indeed, for stressed-out entrepreneurs, the hotel-like backdrop
of most residential executive education programs is part of what
makes them worthwhile. Removed from your routine setting, you have
time to focus on what's really important about your business.
To encourage this mind-set, all the major residential executive
education programs provide comfortable lodging and dining
arrangements for their guests. Harvard's Baker Hall, for
instance, houses 164 rooms centered around a main lounge.
Wharton's Steinberg Conference Center has 103 guest rooms, five
classrooms, a dining facility, an evening lounge--even a small
fitness center. Such amenities are fairly representative of the
best residential executive education programs.

Global Vision

Wharton is second only to Harvard in terms of the number of
executive education programs offered. Alison Peirce, director of
executive programs at Wharton, says the school's executive
education program earned $25 million last year.

Getting entrepreneurs to think globally is a primary objective
of Wharton's executive education courses. With 50 percent to 70
percent of the school's two-to-five-week executive education
classes comprised of participants from outside the United States,
the learning potential for U.S. entrepreneurs increases
exponentially. "We deliberately designed it that way because
we think it's important for [executives] to be aware of
competitive, cultural and social issues outside the United
States," Peirce says. "[At Wharton,] we want to have an
international learning community. If [entrepreneurs] only hear
examples from their own industries and geographies, they'll
think that's the world." Whether or not they ever intend
to export their products or services, Peirce believes entrepreneurs
need to have a broad sense of what's going on in business
worldwide.

Wharton's executive education programs are broken down into
three main categories: functional and strategic, leadership and
general management, and senior management. The programs range in
length from one to 12 weeks and cover subjects ranging from
finance, accounting and negotiating to the special concerns of
running a family business.

Most of those who teach the executive education courses at
Wharton are full-time faculty members. According to Peirce, they
must possess not only a combination of strong teaching skills but
considerable insights into real-world applications as well.

At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, one of the executive
education program's strengths is that the faculty is an optimal
mix of academics and practitioners, says Management Institute chair
Chuck Krueger. "Our programs are a mix of professors,
consultants and businesspeople," he says. "I can teach
the theory of internal auditing, for example, but for [teaching]
current auditing techniques, we need [faculty] with fresh scar
tissue."

Help Yourself

It's easy to see how corporate employees benefit from
executive education courses and how programs geared specifically to
entrepreneurs benefit small-business owners. But even general
executive education classes can greatly enrich an
entrepreneur's ability to effectively run his or her
business.

"Many entrepreneurs have developed their companies through
a strong capability in one functional area or skill," explains
Harvard's Berg. "[Executive education] is an opportunity
to broaden their education in other functional areas."

Peirce agrees: "What if I was thinking of acquiring another
company but didn't know anything about mergers?" she asks.
"Or what if I'm marketing-oriented but never understood
how to read a balance sheet? There are some very specific skills
people can come for and derive bottom-line benefits
immediately."

In Berg's opinion, one of the best things about attending an
executive education course is "it's almost like going to
another country; you're exposed to different situations.
[Ideally,] you come back with a much different and fresher
perspective on your own company."

No matter how an entrepreneur decides to improve his or her
skills, it's always a good idea. To stay successful as a
small-business owner, "you have to keep reinvesting in your
own human capital--the set of assets you bring to your
position," says Peirce.

Adds Krueger, "[Smart] business owners know that everything
they can learn--every technique, every advantage, every nugget of
information they can use--is going to help them directly."

Class Action

Entrepreneurs in search of a reality check need look no further.
The Center for Creative Leadership's San Diego location offers
an Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP), a comprehensive
assessment of management skills and a leadership training program
packed into one three-day weekend.

"We do a full [business] assessment from a behavioral
leadership standpoint," explains program manager Kim Leahy.
"[For example, what] if you can write a great marketing plan
but can't motivate your people and you've got a structure
that's preventing them from performing? We teach entrepreneurs
that these things are critical to their organization's
success."

The $2,500 program is co-sponsored by the Center for Creative
Leadership (CCL), an educational research institution in
Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Inc., a
nonprofit educational institution in Kansas City, Missouri. The
program is based on CCL's Entrepreneurial Performance
Indicators, three intensive surveys designed by Leahy and program
co-founder John Eggers after a national study of 112 successful
entrepreneurs.

The course begins even before you arrive. Eight weeks earlier,
the center collects specific information to assess your leadership
and communication skills and determine your needs. No relevant
stones are left unturned as not only you but members of your
management team, other employees, and even "observers"
such as board members and customers take part in the surveys.

Once on campus, you learn in one-on-one and small group sessions
how your business was assessed. The results can be surprising, says
Robert Faerber, CEO of transportation consulting firm Faerber
Enterprises Inc. in Lake Zurich, Illinois, who attended ELP last
year. Learning to trace where problems come from, says Faerber, is
"like watching a child grow up--you don't see the small
changes that may lead to problems because sometimes they happen
slowly and subtly."

Tim Webster, president of American Italian Pasta Co. in
Excelsior Springs, Missouri, agrees. "The [instructors]
identified probable pitfalls for my profile," he says. Was he
uncomfortable discussing the less successful aspects of his company
with other entrepreneurs? To the contrary. "You're part of
a group process, but your feedback is very personal and
confidential," says Webster, "and to be with people who
are also having their eyes opened, it's very
positive."

For Allen Batts, CEO of Hello Direct Inc., a telecommunications
products manufacturer in San Jose, California, the course was
something of a barometer. Going into the course with a 40 percent
growth rate that continues today, Batts didn't want to fix what
was wrong but to try to stay ahead of the curve and make sure he
can continue to grow the business.

In a world where knowledge is king, it can't be stressed
enough: "Know thy company." A program such as ELP could
be just the vehicle that helps puts your company in the know.